1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates in general to printing presses, and specifically to devices for selective printing on single sheets or a continuous web.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Continuous printings are carried out on very large printing units which because of their high work rates are suitable for large print runs, since the operating means are entirely out of proportion to the printing of small runs. Moreover, increasingly rapid development of micro-information processing and the reduction in its production costs mean that many companies of medium size are becoming computerized. This has created new needs for printed matter printed continuously in small and medium runs, which cannot be satisfied by traditional printers, most of whom are equipped with sheet-fed presses.
A certain number of manufacturers of small offset presses, such as AB Dick, AM Multigraphics U.S.A., and Rotaprint Germany are aware of this new market and are beginning to manufacture, in relatively small series, equipment which is better suited to this demand, in which the sheet feed has been replaced by a continuous feed based of known means. However, their lack of versatility added to the fact that their prices, as compared with similar sheet-fed equipment, are substantially three times higher make them difficult to redeem at the present state of development of this new process. Furthermore, these presses are designed only for printing forms or labels intended for information processing and cannot handle printed matter in a continuous web not equipped with "Caroll" perforations, because their web-drawing and margin-locating systems are linked to the holes of these perforations.
Therefore, there is an enormous market in the sector of printing from a non-perforated web in small and medium runs, such as, for example, labels, which is completely out of reach of the traditional printer who possesses only sheet-fed offset printing presses.